JJ's Cases
by shelizabeth
Summary: One-shots exploring different possible cases that JJ had throughout the seasons that we didn't get to see.
1. Chapter 1

**Set: **Somewhere in season 1. JJ rescues a girl who was taken with her boyfriend and witnesses her boyfriend being killed, and the girl forms an attachment to JJ.

I noticed especially in the earlier seasons, JJ was always the one comforting the rescued victims and I was surprised nothing like this actually happened in the show (keep in mind, I just started and am on season 4) so I decided to explore it.

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><p>Sweat folded over her brow, she shook violently and screamed, begged for mercy. The air was cold and chilling, yet there was heat radiating off every bare inch of her skin. She screamed as loud as she could, but it was futile, for there was no sound coming from her throat. <em>Help, please, help me! He's hurting him! Take me instead, please, leave him.<em>

"Sophia, Sophia, wake up, you're okay. It was just a dream."

She stirred and screamed, but when she opened her eyes, she was in a white room and covered in hospital blankets. She kicked them off, she was so hot, she was bigger than her body.

"Hey," said a gentle voice. "You're okay."

"No," yelled Sophia, her eyes bursting with unshed tears. "He hurt him. You have to help him," she cried. "Please, he hurt him, he's going to kill him."

"Shhh, it's okay. It was a bad dream, you're alright now. You're in the hospital, I'm going to take care of you. I'm your nurse. "

"It wasn't a bad dream," Sophia's voice shook the same way her hands did. "It wasn't a bad dream, I saw it. I saw him kill him. I want Agent Jureau, please, where is she? Please, is she here? She's left, she's gone, isn't she?" Sophia's voice threatened to erupt into an explosion of tangled emotions, and the nurse immediately flinched backwards.

"I'll find her, honeybun, just relax. I'll bring her in to see you."

Sophia nodded and brought her hand up to her eyes, letting the relief flood through her like the opening of a dam. She couldn't close her eyes again, she would be okay if she didn't close her eyes again. As long as she didn't have to be back on the cold, cement floor, she didn't have to see that blue eye pierce through the tiny peephole, the only connection to the outside world. If she kept her eyes open, she wouldn't have to hear the screaming of her boyfriend, the begging for his life, the sound of the knife hitting his skin like a piece of meat. The images flashed through her mind again like a quickly moving photo collage. She fought the urge to scream again, tried to calm her heart beating quick enough to outrun a tiger. She felt herself slipping, brought back only by the knock on the door.

Agent Jennifer Jareau was average height and thin-framed. Her blonde hair fell to the middle of her back, and her eyes were a different shade of blue than Sophia remembered of her attacker. Whereas his was sharp and insulting, Agent Jareau's were round and pale blue, and had a warmness about them. Though some of the families didn't take her seriously immediately, it was obvious her team members on the force respected her, for she was well-suited for her job. She was the one who found Sophia after the team discovered the body of her boyfriend, and had checked on Sophia after her surgery.

"Hi Sophia," said Agent Jareau warmly. "I heard you asked for me."

Feeling like her throat was too dry to speak, Sophia nodded, even though she wasn't sure if Agent Jareau could see her. She stared at the light coming in from the window, though she wasn't really seeing anything, but staring blankly at where the sky ran into the buildings across from the hospital.

"Agent Jareau," Sophia croaked, not breaking her gaze towards the window.

"Why don't you call me, JJ, Soph? I think we're friends now."

Sophia tried to agree, tried to say even the simplest word of okay, to acknowledge she accepted this proposition, but nothing came out except for salty trails out of her eyes.

"You've seen a lot of horrible things, haven't you? I mean, in your job? You fight bad guys all the time, right?"

"Yes," said JJ softly. "I have."

"Does it ever go away?" asked Sophia softly. "Will I ever be able to close my eyes again and see something else besides Andrew's face, with no color or life in it anymore? Will the lurch in my stomach ever go away that reminds me of the moment I heard you coming, heard you telling me I was safe now? Will I ever be able to breathe again without the feeling of a thousand weights on my chest?"

Sophia rolled over, the tears falling off her now clearly moving something deep inside the FBI agent. JJ reached out her hand and wiped the tears off Sophia.

"No," she answered honestly. "But it's going to get easier. You're going to start seeing it less, it's going to be less overwhelming. You'll find other things to be happy about, and you'll hang on to those things, and they'll get you through it."

"I don't think so," said Sophia, shaking her head. "I don't know what there is to be happy about. You know, when I first met Andrew, I was determined not to fall in love with him. I actually said that to myself," Sophia gave an empty laugh. "He was so good to me, always went on these long spiels about how amazing I was. I would laugh and tell him to be quiet because he was annoying. He did all these stupid things like buy me flowers and stuffed animals and I would tell him I didn't need all that stuff, but he never stopped. It took me a year of stringing him along, halfway invested in him, before I agreed to go on a date with him. We didn't fall in love right away," said Sophia, smiling at what seemed to be a memory. "At least I didn't. It was slow, burning, like starting a fire, and then that one piece of wood that just makes the flame grow so bright and blinding that it completely engulfs you. Before Andrew, all I cared about was school, and my future. I barely had friends, nevermind a boyfriend, I was so wrapped up in myself and creating a career for myself one day. He came out of nowhere, and he opened my heart up, and he made me see things that I never dreamed of knowing. He made me a better person. I loved him, I love him, how can I ever love again with an endless hole that he left inside of me?"

JJ seemed to be at a loss of words, until, finally, she spoke delicately. "What was it? The one piece of wood that created the fire?"

Sophia smiled, a shaky, sad smile, and swallowed before she opened her mouth.

"Almost two years ago, my parents were in an accident. Andrew and I had just started officially dating, but I was doing it more out of comfort and so my family would get off my back about seeing someone. Then they were in the accident, the police found their car totaled inside a ditch. There was alcohol in the car, but their bodies... they were never found. They've still never found an answer. They just said it was a drunk driving car accident and left it. But I knew there was something more. Nobody would listen to me, nobody except Andrew. Even my older brother thought I was crazy. He kept telling me to let it go, that our parents were drunks, to just be happy because they didn't kill anyone else."

JJ gave Sophia her hand, and Sophia squeezed, willing herself to hold it together so she could continue.

"Andrew listened every day to my new evidence, my theories. He always listened. Until finally I started apologizing for not getting over it, for dragging him through it with me."

"What did he do then?" asked JJ softly.

"H-he took me to the graveyard," said Sophia, now unable to fight the urge to cry. "He held my hand, and we walked around, he told me this story about these sisters who got separated and how the other never gave up on finding her even when everyone else did. I asked him if the sister who was looking ever found her."

"And did she?"

"I don't know, when I asked him, he told me he never saw the end of the movie," Sophia and JJ both let air out of their nose in place of a laugh at the unexpected ending, though even the movement of joking felt out of place. "He told it in such detail, I was crying, and that was when I realized. Love wasn't about needing the other person so badly you couldn't ever exist without them. I knew that would never happen, that I would never be that girl who couldn't survive without her boyfriend. Love was those small moments when he knew I needed to laugh when everyone else would have been too afraid to say something so bold. It was when he purposely made me mad when I started getting overwhelmed because he knew I needed to let it out somewhere, and the moments that I let him see me cry and he knew I didn't need a hug or to be suffocated, but space to breathe and his presence so I didn't feel alone.

I promised myself I wouldn't fall in love with him, and I promised that I would never need him so badly that I couldn't imagine life without him."

"Oh, Sophia," said JJ. "It's okay to break promises sometimes. I'm sure he would be glad to hear you broke the first one."

"I never told him," cried Sophia. "Not once. I was so concerned with being able to live without him, I thought telling him would make it real. He died not knowing... I should have told him. I was so selfish... so stupid... He died not knowing I loved him."

"Oh, sweetie, he knew. I'm positive he knew."

"I heard him die, I'll never forget. The sound of his screaming... the last thing he said... it was my name. I should have told him, it didn't matter, I never said it and I still can't live without him."

Sophia seemed to jerk into alertness when JJ's cell phone rang, and she watched as the only person she felt connected to stood up to answer it. Her brows furrowed, and Sophia knew it was bad news.

As soon as she put the phone back in her pocket, Sophia spoke before JJ could.

"You're leaving."

"I'm sorry, Soph. It was work, I have to go."

"Can I go with you?"

"You can't, you're in the hospital, Sophia. No doctor would let you out."

"You're the FBI! You can do whatever you want! Please, Agent Jareau, please, don't leave me alone. You're the only person who makes it feel less lonely all the time. I have no one else. I haven't spoken to my brother since the accident, and Andrew is dead."

The severity of her last sentence was jolting. After serious convincing, showing of credentials, slight white lies about the necessity of her leaving, and assurance she would be back by the end of the night, Agent Jareau was granted permission to take Sophia out for the night, despite her better judgement. She knew that her superiors would surely say something, but still, she couldn't resist helping this girl.

As predicted, as soon as she walked into headquarters, she was bombarded by her team and her supervisor. A strong-willed man, Aaron Hotchner was understanding but tough.

"Jennifer, I need to speak with you in my office, immediately."

"I'll be right back Sophia, stay with the team. They'll take care of you."

Sophia nodded as JJ moved stealthily up the stairs towards the office of Agent Hotchner.

"I know what I did was wrong," started JJ immediately. "I know I need to be able to remain objective. I know, I know, I know. You don't have to tell me."

"Apparently I do. I heard you were visiting her at the hospital?"

"She has no one, Hotch."

Agent Hotchner seemed to sympathize. "I know, JJ, but it's not your responsibility. You were the person that found her, am I correct?"

"Yes. You're correct."

"She's developing an attachment to you that's going to soon become too dangerous to sever. She's feeling very alone and needs some sort of guidance, and she's pouring it out on you. Have you heard of stockholm syndrome?"

"What? Of course I have," said JJ, clearly not finding any reason for the topic of this disease to be brought up.

"It's something that's being studied that's very similar to that, only, it's an attachment to the first responders that rescue the victim."

"So you're saying that by being there for this girl, I'm damaging her? Encouraging a disease? Hotch, she has _nobody. _I can't just leave her in the world to fend for herself. It's not right. Someone needs to be on her side. I can't just ignore someone who needs me."

"You have no choice," said Hotch firmly. "It's your job."

JJ clicked her tongue and turned on her heels down to the headquarters where Sophia was sitting and smiling with the team. She was sitting at the desk of Dr. Spencer Reid, a young agent, who at age 23, was only six years older than Sophia herself. He had a PhD by the time he was sixteen, and his second one by age nineteen. His third didn't take long after that. He was a certified genius, lovable, though slightly socially awkward. He was speaking nervously to Sophia, sitting atop his desk, talking about statistics of recovery for people who didn't complete their physical rehabilitation.

"Alright," said JJ, slightly amused. "I think she gets it, Spence."

"Right, sorry."

"No," said Sophia, smiling unabashedly. "You can keep talking."

"I-uh- was just saying that most people who don't complete the exact amount of rehabilitation ordered by their doctors usually don't-"

But Spencer's voice trailed off, and JJ watched Sophia watch Reid.

"Listen," said JJ, interrupting Spencer's lecture. "My boss thinks it's not a good idea for you to be here. It's too, uh, overwhelming for your senses... and stuff. I should bring you back."

"Can _he_ come?"

"What? No, he cannot come. Let's go, Sophia."

Begrudgingly, after telling Dr. Reid that she'll see him again, Sophia followed JJ to her car.

"I want to come back here, like, all the time," said Sophia dreamily.

"I don't think thats a good idea, Soph."

"What? What do you mean?"

"My boss doesn't think we should... hang out so much."

"Hang out? You mean you can't come to visit me anymore?"

"I'm so sorry," JJ explained. "I wish I could help you more. But I promise I'll find a good home for you to live in for the next year, and we'll write to each other sometimes. I'll still be there for you... just not as much. I can't be, it's- it's part of my job."

Sophia's light-hearted demeanor changed as quickly as footsteps in the middle of New York City.

"Right. I was being stupid. Of course, you were doing your job, and I dragged you through this. I'm sorry. You can just drop me off."

JJ tried to protest, but when Sophia slammed the door when she pulled up to the front doors of the hospital, she ran off quickly enough that JJ realized her best option was to leave her be.

She wiped her own tears and pulled out of the hospital parking lot, hoping more than anything in the world that Sophia would know she was not giving up on her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Setting: **Somewhere around the later episodes of season 2, I'd say. About 6 months to a year after JJ's case with Sophia.

Another note: if you read this, I'm deciding if I want to go more into Sophia and make it into a comprehensive story about JJ getting attached to that particular case, or do just unrelated one-shots of different JJ cases, so if you've read these 2 chapters and you review which one you'd rather it be, it would help!:-)

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><p>When he heard the footsteps getting louder outside of the door, he puffed out his cheeks and held his breath. His chest started to hurt from the lack of oxygen, he had to let it out, but he couldn't, he would be heard, and he couldn't be heard. As long as he was quiet, he would be okay. If he didn't make a sound, not even the movement of air through his body, then he would be okay. He wouldn't be found.<p>

But the door opened anyway. The white wood shutter door opened slowly, and he closed his eyes, because he maybe, just maybe, he could escape out of this place if he didn't have to see it anymore.

"I've got him," called out a sad voice. "Hi buddy. We're the FBI, we work for the police. We came to help you get out of here."

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and though he saw a man, it wasn't the one he ran from. This one didn't have a beard, and his skin was darker. There was also a woman with him, who he could feel watching him.

"My name is Agent Derek Morgan," said the man, reaching out his hand. "This is my friend, Agent Emily Prentiss."

"You can let out that breath you're holding now," said Agent Prentiss, smiling at him. His eyes shifted from one agent to the other, then, seemingly having no other choice, opened his mouth and felt an enormous release of pressure on him.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"N-Na-Nathaniel."

"Hi Nathaniel," said the woman, reaching out her hand too, and this one, Nathaniel took. "How old are you?"

"E-eight. My s-sister, Cameron, she's five."

"It's okay, Nathaniel," said the man who identified himself as Derek. "We're going to bring you home, now, alright?"

"I want my dog, Lola, I was walking her, my mum told me I could, I was walking her with Cameron, that- that's when he came. W-where's my dog? Is she okay?"

"We haven't found her, but we promise, we'll keep looking."

"Nathaniel! Oh Nathaniel," came a booming voice. A short, sandy-colored haired woman burst through the doorway of the bedroom. Nathaniel immediately ran to her, she picked him up in her arms in a fury of tears. JJ was not far behind her.

"She said she heard his voice," explained JJ to Emily and Morgan. "I couldn't stop her."

"He's hiding something," said Emily, suddenly, as if she didn't even hear JJ's explanation for a family member to have come in the middle of a crime scene.

"Hiding something? Like what? He was just rescued from a brutal kidnapper that killed his five year old sister."

"He knows something," explained Morgan, looking at Emily. Both of them could tell immediately. "He asked about his dog, but not his sister."

"So? He assumes she's dead."

"No," said Morgan. "It's more than that. He knows she is, because he had something to do with it. That's why he didn't bother to ask."

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><p>"They're scaring him," said JJ solemnly, with her arms crossed and her eyes studying Morgan and Prentiss in the bare room with Nathaniel. "He's not going to talk like that."<p>

"They're doing their job," answered Hotch. "They know what they're doing."

But almost immediately after Hotchner's insistence, both Prentiss and Morgan stood up and walked out to the other side of the glass wall where JJ and Hotch were standing.

"He's definitely hiding something," said Morgan.

"But whatever it is, he's terrified of saying something. He's totally tight-lipped."

"Let me talk to him," said JJ suddenly, looking at the reaction of Hotch, Morgan, and Prentiss. "You guys can listen and take me out if you think I'm harming the situation. My job is to address the public. I know how to speak to people. He's scared, let me just try."

All three agents seemed to be at a loss for words, until a small nod from Hotch gave JJ the okay to walk in.

She spoke softly.

"Hi there."

Nathaniel didn't respond. He stared intently at his fingers, intertwining them and pulling them apart in a slow, meticulous manner.

"My name is Agent Jareau, but you can call me JJ if you'd like. Do you mind if we talked a little bit before your Mom comes to bring you home?"

"Where's my mum?" he asked, looking up for the first time. It felt like a trap. As soon as he looked up, he couldn't look away. "I want to go home," he ordered weakly.

"I know, we're going to get you out of here as quick as we can. We just want to talk about what happened a little bit. Do you think you could talk to me for a bit?"

He looked weary looking up at JJ, but slowly, started to nod.

"Did you find Lola?"

"I'm really sorry, kiddo. We haven't found her yet."

Nathaniel tried to hide his disappointment with another nod.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened before you got to the closet. Can you do that?"

"I don't remember."

"Do you remember how you got to the closet?" asked JJ.

"I- I ran," he said decidedly, biting down on his lip. "I ran away."

"You ran away from him? So he wouldn't hurt you?"

"No," said Nathaniel, shaking his head, his eyes wide with fear. "He said he wouldn't."

"Then how come you ran from him?"

"I-I couldn't watch it anymore. He yelled at me, he said that if I ever wanted to go home, I had to watch the whole thing, I had to help, but I didn't want to," said Nathaniel, his fearful eyes bursting with tears. "He was hurting her. He was using a knife to rip all her skin off. He made me hold my hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream."

"Your sister?"

"I'm her big brother," cried Nathaniel. "And I didn't protect her."

"Oh, buddy, you were doing what you had to stay alive. I'm sure she'd understand. Can you tell me anything about the man that took you?"

"He... he had a beard. Like Santa, but his was black, and he had no hair on the top of his head. He had a big stomach, like Santa."

"And how did he approach you?"

"We were walking Lola, just up the street and back like my mum said we could. He came out of nowhere and grabbed Cams, then he told me that he was going to kill her if I didn't get in the van."

"Do you remember anything about the van?"

Nathaniel closed his eyes and his cheeks pulsed when the memory flooded through him.

"The floor was cold... and dirty. He took my shoes, and it made my feet gross on the bottom. Cams was crying, and I told her she needed to shut up, and it made her cry more. I just wanted her to stop, he said he was going to kill us if we didn't be quiet. He was angry, holding his head in one hand like my mom does when she gets her mi-draines."

"How did you make her stop, Nathaniel?"

"I- I hit her with the tire that was in the back with us. She stopped crying after that."

"When did she wake up?"

"When I was holding my hand over her mouth. She was so scared, I could see it... I could see the tears... they made her eyes look so big when I was leaning over like that... make it stop, please make it stop JJ, I don't wanna be there anymore!" Nathaniel trailed off into screams and thrashing. He barely had opened his eyes when he jumped off the metal chair he was sitting on and threw it across the room. When it hit the wall, the noise was deafening for a few moments. The rest of the team rushed in, but JJ was already kneeled in front of him and holding his arms firmly.

"Nathaniel, listen to me, you're okay. You're going to be fine. Your mom is on her way and you're going to sleep in your own bed, safe and sound, okay? You're going to be fine."

Nathaniel stopped and looked at JJ, his body shaking and tense but being held steady by JJ's grip. He nodded and relaxed his muscles, and the team followed suit, lowering their arms.

The van was pulled over for speeding not long after Nathaniel's statement, and in a required search, found the body of a five year girl lying on the dirty ground of the back of the truck.

Nathaniel waited outside while his mother identified the body, and JJ left the team to approach him one last time.

"You know, he was stopped because of you. You telling me what you did is how the police officer knew to check the back. He's never going to hurt anyone ever again because of _you._"

Nathaniel nodded teary-eyed, and reached up to hug JJ. JJ tried to control her own emotions when she hugged him back.

On the plane, while everyone drifted in and out of consciousness, JJ stared out the window across the table that Spencer was reading on.

"Oh, JJ, I forgot to tell you, I got this by accident before the case. It's a letter for you. I didn't want to give it to you in front of Hotch, because the return address is someone named Sophia, and if I remember correctly, that was the name in the case he reprimanded you for getting too involved."


End file.
